So you want to sell sponsorships

These sound simple: one lump sum amount, some recognition, and everybody’s happy.

However.

Sometimes a sponsorship has entitlements to registration-related “things”

• those things could be simple (tickets!)
• those things could be complex (tables!)
• those things could be both (@*#$(@#&))

And as we all know, sponsorships could be bought by an individual, a company, an individual representing a company, or a company honoring an individual – and since there are tax consequences for the purchaser these things matter a great deal.

Oh, and if there are tables involved, let’s just get out there up front that the purchaser never knows the names of the other n people who will be sitting at that table let alone their dietary restrictions.

Modify all of the above as needed for anything having to do with a golf tournament.

What is our sponsorship model?

• a package that is flagged as a sponsorship package
• that package includes a product that is the actual sponsorship and holds the entitlement rules
• that package sponsorship configuration also associates the purchase with a capped and table seated event

This combination allows you to:

• limit the number of purchases of a sponsorship at a given level
• design a product (with pricing, description, and all!) that is appropriate to the offering
• trigger the creation of placeholder guest records for the other n people at the table (or n people in the foursome for golf) so that your capacities are properly respected

If you hold this up against AlumnIQ’s implicit bias for tracking individual humans and their selections/behaviors and the absolute need to ensure your tables doth not overfloweth, this makes a lot of sense.

How do I set this up?

1. Create your main event with an appropriate capacity (and if it’s not limited, just set it sky high)
2. Set that event to tabled/seated - even if you’re not actually placing people at tables. A table can also be a golf foursome hint hint.
3. Create a sponsored guest package that has nothing in it (for the time being). This will come in handy shortly.
4. Create a product for each sponsorship level. Use the description heavily. Define the product as a sponsorship product and link it to the event and cap section. You’ll also associate the product with the sponsored guest package as a place for our placeholder guest record to land. The product is also where you define what n+1 is for the entitlement scope.
5. And finally, create a package for each actual sponsorship offering. Pin the sponsorship product to it. If the sponsor is also entitled to a ticket to the event, be sure to attach the event to the sponsor package as well.
6. Repeat for each sponsorship level you’re offering.

If there are additional things you need to capture as part of the sponsorship

• Create them as product options

If there are additional things you need to capture as part of attendance

• Create them as event custom questions
• Unless they’re dietary or accessibility, in which case turn those on for the org so they’re captured on the participant’s bio (properly)

Helpful hints to make this less confusing to the registrant

1. Use package display groups. Put your sponsorship packages in a “Sponsor + Attend” display group. Put your ticket only package(s) in a “Ticket Only” group.
2. Make heavy use of package and product descriptions!

My sponsors will not pay via credit card

We gotchu. On the Edit Org screen you can turn on/off:

• admin code
• pay by check
• pay by wire transfer
• pay by stock transfer
• internal account transfer

None of these methods result in actual collection by AlumnIQ, but you will see the chosen payment method (if not credit card, which is always active and available) at the top of the reg record in the customer service area.

Test It

There is no upper limit to the amount of testing you’ll want/need to do with this. Use Start Over liberally to simulate all scenarios.